(I recommend signing up for a few in one go as offers change regularly, and some of the better sites close their doors from time to time)

E-Rewards is a platform that mediates between different companies and users like you and me. That is, people who want to trade their opinions and habits for money or another form of compensation that can be converted to money.

That’s exactly the same thing most survey websites do. Every single company in the world would benefit from finding out as much as possible about their target customers – who they are, how much money they earn vs. how much they tend to spend, what are their purchasing habits and behaviors. Whether they already have a product or are just developing it, this information is priceless – provided it’s relevant, reliable and trustworthy.

This reliability (or lack thereof) is the main reason most of these websites don’t make it too easy for customers to qualify for their surveys. They don’t need just any kind of opinion provided by a random person pretending or lying to be their target customer.

And that’s the case with E-Rewards too.

Company Overview

E-Rewards operate under the umbrella company Research Now Group, which boasts collaboration with tech, retail and marketing giants such as Best Buy, Facebook, Twitter, BuzzFeed, Ipsos, and more. It was founded in 1999, with headquarters in Plano, Texas and over 1,000 employees. Their current CEO is Gary S. Laben.

That’s what we can see on their website; however, BBB (Better Business Bureau) tells another part of the story. Back in 2017, they pulled their accreditation due to customers complaints about their accounts being shut down, along with their earnings. Whereas this doesn’t mean E-Rewards are a scam, it’s certainly a red alert.

Wanna Join E-Rewards?

You’re on their website, you’re clicking through different options but just can’t find the registration form. That’s because it doesn’t exist! That’s the first difficulty with this platform. The only way to join is if they invite you. You can’t get in if you find their URL by googling them, or if a friend of yours shared their website on Facebook.

How to get invited? As far as we know, there isn’t any other way but to provide your email address to one of their partners – that is, companies that are paying for market research services. But even if you did provide your email address to one of those companies, it’s still not a guarantee that you will get invited.

The only two limitations are age (you have to be older than 13) and citizenship – they will only approve your account if you are a legal US resident. Note that you will have to confirm your account via landline or mobile.

I Joined E-Rewards. What’s the Next Step?

Once they’ve let you over the wall, the rest is pretty easy and intuitive. First and most important – signing up and using the platform is completely free.

Fill in your basic information to get the enrollment survey. You will have 30 days to fill it out, giving them a way to figure out what kind of customer you are and which target group you might fit in.

Then, surveys will start hitting your inbox on a weekly basis, each with a 30-day deadline. For every survey you get, you will receive Opinion Points. That’s their currency that you’ll be able to convert into different prizes and rewards. Unfortunately, these Opinion Points have no cash value, so you won’t be getting any money.

What Kind of Prizes Can I Redeem?

There is a variety of prizes they offer in exchange for Opinion Points. Take a look at just a few:

Airline miles

Starbucks gift cards

Vouchers

Best Buy gift cards

Restaurant gift cards

Magazine subscriptions (online and print)

Hotel reward points

Note, however, that a dollar worth of points isn’t equal to a dollar redeemable. So, for example, if your account is showing $60 earned, you will be able to convert that into a $25 gift card – that’s like earning 41¢ on every dollar in Opinion Points. This might sound pretty unfair, but it’s a standard practice in this industry. In fact, E-Rewards tends to pay better than most other survey panels, as you can see below.

Pros

Most of the surveys are easy and straightforward.

You can still access a survey, even if you missed it. You have 30 days to fill out a survey. However, even if you didn’t make it on time, click through the link in email and you will be redirected to the website that currently hosts this survey. And you will still get the Opinion Points when you’re done.

Even though there’s no cash, the earnings are better than with most other survey panels. That is, if you are interested in their rewards.

You can access the surveys in your email, but if that’s not enough, you can find more surveys on their website, when logged into your account.

You don’t have to wait long for your credit to get transferred to your account. It usually happens the same day. In some cases, it might take up to a few days, but that shouldn’t happen often.

E-Rewards is the only survey panel that gives you a chance to earn airline miles and hotel rewards – which could be great if you’re addicted to traveling.

Cons

It’s an invite-only program. This exclusivity is the greatest obstacle. Most of their competitors offer free admission, so this is definitely not an asset.

You get points and not cash. Even though this is the business model for many survey panels out there, it’s still a huge minus. If you have no use for the rewards they offer, just skip this panel and try out the next one.

You finish the survey just to find out that you weren’t even eligible to begin with. That’s another common issue with these platforms. Even though you will still get a portion of the sum if you don’t qualify, it’s still not enough of an incentive. If you already spent a significant amount of time on a survey, it would only be nice to know that this time isn’t lost.

The cashout threshold is pretty high. You need to earn $60 in Opinion Points before they give you the option to convert them into a gift card or another prize.

You can only redeem a reward from the same company once every three months.

Some customers are complaining that the platform suspended their accounts after they spent weeks on taking surveys. Once your account is suspended, you can’t redeem your earned points.

Apparently, their customer service isn’t very helpful. They either send out automated, generic emails in reply to customers’ questions and complaints, or they ignore them altogether.

Verdict

When you weigh in all the pros and cons, the result is clear. This is definitely a legit company, as proved by their partners and some positive customer reviews, but it’s too hard to get in. And even if you do get in, other issues are waiting in line that the company has proved unwilling to resolve. For the time being, it’s probably best to steer away from them and commit to other options out there.